4 comments:

Very useful. But as a slight criticism, I would've pronounced the word in English first, followed by the Korean equivalent; not vice versa. This is the way it seems to be done on some other language audio such as Berlitz. Perhaps this is why that way seems more natural and understandable.

Anyhow, this is my first post here and as such, I feel obliged to give you a theoretical pat on the back - well done Luke.

Thanks for your comment, I thought about your approach and it's good that Berlitz and some other language audios pronounce words in English first followed by the words in the language they teach, as that might be easier to comprehend(?).

However, my only criticism with that approach is that by listening to words in English first, and then to words in the language you learn, you tend to think in English first and then translate it to the language you learn.

I believe this is not a very effective way of learning a new language in the long run because you tend to think in English first and then translate to whichever language you learn. I find that with this approach, you tend to make sentences that don't make sense.

This is what happened to me when I tried to translate my sentences in Korean into English when I fist started learning English. The English translations did not really make sense or they were unnatural or awkward.

I find that it's more helpful to learn the words, sentences or words in the language I learn to whatever language I'm most comfortable with.

For example, there's a phrase "break a leg" which means "good luck" in English. To learn this phrase and for me to be able to use it, I would first listen to it in English, then understand its meaning, and then try to pronounce it and then use it in a right context, rather than starting with its equivalent/meaning in Korean (for example) and then back to English and use it.

This is also the approach I use to learn Japanese. I find Japanese words, sentences or phrases first, then listen to them (if I could) then translate it into English or Korean.

I know it's only a subtle difference in the approach to learning a new language, but it has been working for me for a long time.

That's why I would pronounce Korean words or sentences first for now for the lessons and audio recordings, unless there's a big demand for the change of the order of the audio recordings from the readers and listeners coming here to learn Korean.

THEN I MIGHT consider that approach as well, possibly??

But still, thank you for your comment, and the time you took to write it.

It certainly made me think about my approach in these audio recordings again.